Tag: Asked and answered
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Why the bubble?
Why did Altman’s new style of predictive algorithm become a giant Wall Street bubble? Prediction has been the PRIMARY purpose of calculation for thousands of years. Most formal math, and many measuring instruments, developed to predict astronomical patterns for religious purposes, first in Islam then copied by Christians. Statistics was developed explicitly for betting. Analog…
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Note on Win 11 “update” KB5066131
TLDR for google: Win 11 “update” 5066131 causes a blank taskbar with no icons. The only fix is uninstalling 5066131. None of the other recommendations work. = = = = = = = = = Background: My trusty old Win 7 computer, made in 2009, was seriously aging and had acquired some annoying malware that…
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Why not barley?
Random stupid bitching! When I switched back to more or less vegy diet in 2010 after a carny diet led to trouble, I made barley the base. In my previous long vegy period from 1970 to 1990, I had followed hippie tradition with rice. Barley has more complex nutrition than rice. It grows in many…
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Who? How?
Who benefits from ruining the police and prosecutors? Who benefits from rampant crime and homelessness, destroying the stability and security of civilization? Easy answer, because we know exactly who is doing it. George Soros. How does he benefit? That’s more of a mystery. When he destroyed other countries in the 80s and 90s, he gained…
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One obvious, one mystery
For some reason** I just now noticed two firm social patterns in the 1950s. The first is universal and easily explained. The second is highly particular and unexplained. = = = = = 1. Males always called males by last name. Females called everyone by first name. This applied between teachers and students, and among…
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One auto trivium
GM cars usually had two keys, one for ignition and doors, and the other for trunk and glovebox. I drove lots of Chevys and always wondered about the inconvenient distinction. One of those auto dealer training films explained the reason. In cities where every parking lot had attendants or valets, you could leave the ignition/door…
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Who are they talking to?
Repooflicans are returning to Reagan-era slogans or even Truman-era slogans. Who are they talking to? Nobody under 60 even knows what a commie is. I suppose they’re talking to my generation, but we don’t need any training or reinforcement. Most of us are still watching MSNBC/FOX, getting our daily dose of the Good Old Stuff.…
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How it worked
My current Hudson obsession gave rise to several questions about details. The unique failsafe brake system is vaguely described online but not detailed or diagrammed. I bought a ’48 Stepdown Owners Manual on Ebay for $40 to satisfy my curiosity. The brake system was pretty much how I imagined it. The pedal applies leverage to…
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Unanswered question
Lately I’ve been using the car dealer castes as clarifiers. Dealers had three categories. Conservative Prospects were interested in simplicity and reliability, uninterested in status. Step-up Prospects were interested in flashy impressive status. Luxury Prospects wanted lasting quality and didn’t care much about flash. The Prospects correlate perfectly with the ancient castes and Orwell’s party…
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Got my wish
A while ago somebody was writing about presidential debates sponsored by the Commission for Presidential debates, or CPD. The writer was complaining that the current candidates weren’t going through CPD. I wrote a “clever” comment: I don’t want CPD debates, I want CBD debates. Force both candidates to eat gummies, then let er rip. You…
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Riddle
Before 2020 flipped the script, fake doctors used to be called quacks. Q: What do you call fake freedom fighters? A: Quacks. = = = = = Via Protos, with caution as usual: Bing’s search engine went down for most of yesterday, and Google later snarkily thanked them for the added business. The article includes…
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Clear after defining
Wondered why 100% of “news” about politics is pointless arguing. A roasts B, C debates with D, E kicks F out of speakership. Within “dissident” circles it’s the same. Pointless arguing about who’s more ideologically pure or who’s taking more money from Deepstate. For powerless people, the only effective political action is Desistance, finding ways…
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The secret!
Spam email just now: The secret to perfect vision without glasses! I don’t need to read the email because I know the secret! No Weird Trick, no magic pills! Just grow old!
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What is it?
I’m fairly familiar with old electronics stuff. I’ve been around it most of my life, and I’ve been researching and writing tech history pieces for 10 years. This one is a complete puzzle. It’s an attractive deco ad in a 1930 issue of the British Popular Wireless. The text doesn’t say what the Blue Spot…
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Folly houses reprint
Reprinting solely to add an interesting fact that lends weight to one side of my guesses and eliminates the other side. Fact: Vintage.es shows city officials smashing pinball machines with the same gusto that they smashed kegs of beer. Pinball is about as innocent as you can get in the whole historical realm of gambling,…
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